Greg LeClair looks for birds through his scope Saturday in Clinton during the Christmas Bird Count. Hannah Kaufman/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — Volunteers traversed a 7.5-mile radius of towns, neighborhoods and fields Saturday, making note of every bird they saw or heard as part of an annual Christmas Bird Count.

Organized by the National Audubon Society, a bird conservation nonprofit facilitated by Maine Audubon and other local chapters, the volunteer-led counts take place in over 35 locations across Maine, running from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5.

Waterville’s count gathered about 20 volunteers Saturday to cover a region spanning Clinton, Fairfield, Vassalboro, Sidney, Belgrade, Winslow and Benton. Some of the volunteers work in wildlife and conservation fields and are regarded as local bird experts, while others are just getting into the hobby.

The count helps state wildlife entities track bird populations, monitor fluctuations and understand long-term trends. At the end of the day, all of the data is reported to the count’s coordinator, which then gets sent to National Audubon to be consolidated into a state report.

That data informs many of the state’s conservation decisions, said Doug Hitchcox, staff naturalist at Maine Audubon.

“Whether it’s the programs we do, the things we talk about — we use so much Christmas Bird Count data,” Hitchcox said. “The wonderful thing about it is it’s the longest-running community science project, so that long-term data set really does a good job of showing you the trends, and that is just so beneficial to us and arguably anyone doing the larger scale conservation work.”

Christmas Bird Count participants can be identified as either feeders or fielders, said Greg LeClair, coordinator for Waterville’s count. Feeders stay at home and monitor the birds that appear at their feeders, while fielders venture out to count the birds.

“Fielders drive around, walk around and go looking for birds that way,” LeClair said. “Some of them are even out before sunrise and after sunset, looking for owls. We have a lot of different corners covered. We get people out in wetlands and forests and open fields and in the city, and we just try and tally every bird we can find.”

On Saturday, the conditions for birding were almost perfect. It was cold but not too cold, with low wind, reasonably clear skies and snow concentrated around food sources, causing birds to feed near roads and at bird feeders. By 10 a.m., LeClair had gotten eyes — and binoculars — on multiple turkeys and hawks, four cardinals, three juncos, a merlin and two savannah sparrows, which are uncommon in the winter due to their preference for grasslands.

A savannah sparrow sits in a tree Saturday, an uncommon sight during the winter in Maine. Photo courtesy of Greg LeClair

Already, groups of volunteers were exchanging excited texts about their findings in each territory. For many, that excitement builds on years of data from past Christmas Bird Counts.

LeClair said that Waterville’s count has helped to identify new bird population trends.

“What’s been really cool with Waterville is we’ve been able to see new species kind of trickle in with both habitat and climate change,” LeClair said. “So if you look back in our data, you can see when the first northern cardinals started showing up, and more recently, it’s been things like red-bellied woodpeckers and Carolina wrens that are pretty new to the count, but they’re reliably showing up every year now, which is pretty cool to see.”

Spotting rare birds during the count is an exciting bonus. If something rare does show up, LeClair said that taking photos is heavily encouraged, as well as the use of Merlin, a bird sound identification app.

This is Audubon’s 125th Christmas Bird Count. The first count happened on Christmas Day in 1900, proposed by ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, and it’s been an Audubon holiday tradition every year since.

Greg LeClair looks through binoculars from his parked car Saturday during the Christmas Bird Count. Hannah Kaufman/Morning Sentinel

With the state of Maine poised to update its Wildlife Action Plan in 2025, up-to-date bird data is important. Hitchcox said Christmas Bird Count data can be compared with data from the Maine Bird Atlas, a recently completed five-year catalog of birds from citizen scientists across the state.

“We have the best data on Maine birds that we’ve ever had, and then also being able to look at the long-term data through Christmas Bird Counts, through breeding bird surveys, that gives us a very complete picture.”

It’s impossible for volunteers to count every bird in a 15-mile diameter. But even incomplete data gives biologists an understanding of population and climate trends.

Over the last few decades, new species have been expanding northward and are breeding in Maine, spending harsh winters where they formerly only stayed for summers. This year’s data may also give an early picture of how avian influenza is impacting different bird populations.

While counting birds is the primary focus, Hitchcox said the Christmas Bird Count also brings people together.

“I really like it because it brings a lot of the experts — the people who have been doing it for 30 or 40 years — and often pairs them up with people who are brand new to it,” Hitchcox said. “And it’s one of the best multigenerational opportunities as well. It’s an amazing opportunity to kind of see what a cool, diverse hobby this is, and we’re doing it in this long-running tradition of collecting data, which I think is one of the best ways we can be giving back to birds.”

There will be more opportunities to get involved in birdwatching across Maine next year. The Great Backyard Bird Count is in February, and Global Big Day, an event where birdwatchers around the world record as many species as possible, is planned for May 10. In the meantime, anyone can download the Merlin app as a first step in identifying birds.

Waterville’s Christmas Bird Count will culminate with a tally rally at 5 p.m., sharing pizza and findings. But until then, as LeClair continues to circle the region, he said there’s one bird in particular he’s hoping to spot.

“Really, I think the one that makes it for me every year is the snow bunting,” LeClair said. “It’s a cute little white bird that forages in fields, and they look like little toasted marshmallows, and that’s my quintessential Christmas Bird Count bird.”

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